Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Wish You Were Here’ Review: Julia Stiles Directs a Surprisingly Subtle Spin on Romantic Weepies
With “Wish You Were Here,” author Renée Carlino provides the blueprint for a romantic drama that could easily be misconstrued as treacly or saccharine. Her novel features a star-crossed love affair, a devastating terminal illness and a young woman caught at a crossroads in her life. Yet instead of fashioning these elements into a mimeographed iteration of “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Dying Young” or pretty much anything from Nicholas Sparks’ oeuvre, director Julia Stiles constructs something fresh. The actor-turned-filmmaker, who co-adapts with Carlino, instills the source material with a clear-eyed sense of emotional authenticity, from its fantastical romanticism to the characters’ delicately-faceted relationship dynamics.
Twentysomething Charlotte (Isabelle Fuhrman) is directionless, waitressing at an unpopular Mexican dive bar with her roommate Helen (Gabby Kono-Abdy). Together the besties are annoyed by the mundanity of their jobs, from fielding ridiculous customer complaints to suffering the indignity of having their service summoned by a bell on a pop-up flag installed on the tables. Charlotte’s frustration is inescapable as, during her dutiful daughter visits, her overbearing mom (Jennifer Grey) and financially supportive father (Kelsey Grammer) search for that gentle push to encourage her to date and figure out her purpose. She’s embarrassingly aware she’s not living to her fullest potential, but fears change.
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Enter Adam (Mena Massoud). On a night when Charlotte and Helen drown their sorrows on their stoop, the dashing painter finds himself lost in their neighborhood, offering a very drunk Helen his fancy Chinese takeout and a still-sober Charlotte a spontaneous date. The two share an instant connection, flirting, canoodling in his bohemian studio loft apartment and bantering about their future endeavors. But in the sobering morning light, Adam’s demeanor changes, kicking her to the curb. Months later, Charlotte’s still compelled to think about him, despite her attempt at moving on with kind-hearted football mascot wannabe Seth (Jimmie Fails). She finally learns the truth about Adam’s situation: He’s recovering from a brain tumor operation and his days are numbered.
It’s at this point — perhaps a bit too far into a slightly meandering second act — where the film’s sentiments begin to coalesce. Charlotte’s journey toward enlightenment isn’t predicated on whether or not she lands a man or finds a successful career, but rather on discovering a well of untapped resilience hidden inside her that provides the key to unlocking her life’s meaning. It’s a little hokey that she exemplifies the trending TikTok catchphrase “Girl Who Is ‘Going to Be Okay,’” but her evolutionary arc might impact young adult audiences on a deeper, personal level. The pair meet on equal ground as lost souls (Adam more literally than Charlotte since he’s introduced wandering her neighborhood). She rescues him with her love, as much as he rescues her with his entire soul, gifting her with a greater purpose for living.
Stiles and Carlino steer the proceedings away from melodrama and broad comedy, rooting the movie in balanced, honest sincerity. After a choppy start, there’s a noticeable amount of restraint to keep the characters truthful and the tone tightly reined in. Charlotte’s mom and Helen are scaled back from potentially reading as insufferable, instead appearing delightfully charming and well-intentioned. Chucky (Jordan Gavaris), Charlotte’s antagonistic younger brother, isn’t an ’80s-style blowhard, but retains a certain reverence for that archetype.
Though Stiles has stepped behind the camera before, helming a short film and short series, her feature directing debut holds much promise for future endeavors. She conjures the narrative’s fantastical escapism after first laying the groundwork to get us to care about the couple’s fated affair. She, cinematographer Ryan De Franco and editor Melody London demonstrate visual dexterity within the romanticized montages. From vibrant lighting cues to lens choices that narrow our focus onto the pair to the assembly of those viscerally charged images, they make the romance soar and the inevitable sting of sadness hit like a gut punch. Plus, the way the filmmakers represent death, as the removal of a mural the lovebirds paint on their first date, speaks in a wholly cinematic language.
Fuhrman, who starred alongside Stiles in the wildly fun “Orphan: First Kill,” instills her heroine with grace and vulnerability. She paints Charlotte’s uncertainties with gentle brushstrokes, coloring the character’s dynamic internality. She and Massoud share an effervescent chemistry. While it’s very much Furhman’s show, Massoud is afforded ample opportunity to demonstrate his range, tapping into his undeniable magnetic charm in lighthearted moments while plucking our heartstrings during the more sorrowful ones. Kono-Abdy and Grey also shine, infusing their caring supporting roles with wit and tenderness.
“Wish You Were Here” achieves the magic hat trick of taking a couple’s cheesy schtick and, by the film’s end, transforming it into a deeply romantic gesture. The title comes from what Charlotte, missing her soulmate, scribbles on the remnants of Adam’s mural (symbolizing the memory of him pressed on her heart). Although the memory of this film might not stick around for as long as that of a lost love, it more than earns the postcard sentimentality of its title.
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